Characters of the Spirit World Traditional Hopi Katsina Dolls
Characters of the Spirit World: Traditional Hopi Katsina Dolls (Downstairs Exhibition)
January 11 - June 15, 2024
Opening Reception: January 11 , 4-6pm
Katsina dolls, or as many know them by their anglicized name, Kachina, are carved and decorated wooden dolls, which represent the Hopi Katsinam spirits. This exhibition draws from local collections, supplemented with work by four carvers which is available for sale.
Traditionally, these dolls are given to young Hopi children during ceremonial rituals and dances that take place throughout the year. The gifted dolls are thought to bring blessings of good health while also serving as educational tools for children to learn the characteristics of each specific Katsina spirit. There are hundreds of Hopi Katsinam spirits to represent nearly all beings and aspects of life, including living creatures - such as squirrels, badgers and bears, the cosmos - such as the sun and stars, as well as weather, plants, rocks, ancestors, even evil spirits and death.
Traditionally, Hopi katsina dolls have been formed from the roots of cottonwood trees. It is said that cottonwood was selected as the wood of choice for katsina carvings because like the Hopi, who live in an arid climate and rely on water for their basic survival, these trees are water seekers that are only found along stable water sources. The wood itself is soft, free of hard growth rings, and easy to manipulate. When dried, it is a stable wood that does not tend to splitting. Root wood is harvested, dried, and carefully selected for each individual doll; sometimes, the bend or curve of a particular piece of wood lends itself to a gestural pose of a specific doll.
Carvers of traditional style dolls vary in the tools they use to shape wood, some follow strict adherence to traditional processes, only using old farrier files to grind the wood down to the final form, while others use hand tools, such as a pocket knife, coping saw, and sandpaper to arrive at their final form. The carved wood form serves much of the same purpose as a blank canvas, they are almost always painted with a white gesso-like base coat before further details and colors are added. The pigments vary quite a bit from carver to carver, some strictly using natural, locally gathered materials, while others have adapted to modern acrylics, or a combination of the two.
The dolls on display here fall closer to the more traditional side, most being painted with pigments collected and produced on the Hopi reservation. Varying colors of mineral rocks and vegetal plants are selected, manually crushed and ground to a fine powder, then mixed with water and a binder to apply to the dolls surfaces. Colors therefore are not consistent from one doll to the next, blacks for instance might be lighter or darker from doll to doll based on the mineral collection point. Historically, feathers, fabrics, furs, plants, shells, beads, and other items were used to complete the dolls decoration. Due to modern laws regarding the trafficking and hunting of wild animals, specific feathers are now used in the production of katsinas, those from game birds such as pheasants, chickens, and turkeys can legally be bought and sold, as well as feathers from captive bred birds who naturally molt feathers, such as parrots. These feathers add a splash of pattern, color, texture, and softness to the carvings consistent with the katsina spirits they are so carefully crafted to represent.
Traditional style dolls have always hung on the walls inside the Hopi home and while some traditional style dolls today are able to balance on their feet, many do not. Most all traditional style dolls have a natural cotton string around their necks from which they hang on the wall for display (as displayed in this exhibition).
